Businesses in the Royal Borough have reacted to the news that they, along with the whole of Berkshire will be placed in Tier 3 at the end of the week.
The scaling up from Tier 2 to Tier 3 will hit the hospitality sector the hardest, with pubs, restaurants and cafes all forced to close.
They will be able to offer click-and-collect and delivery services only until the region can return to a lower tier.
Adam Terpilowski, owner of Lilly’s Café on Peascod Street, said the move to Tier 3 was ‘all a bit expected,’ but that would make the situation no less difficult to manage.
“I will have to do takeaway only and this won’t guarantee enough business coming through,” he said. “We will have to think about going on furlough.
“It will be a challenge because I don’t know what grants will be given and I don’t know how we will pay our rent and bills. We have already suffered a significant drop in sales.”
Jake Reilly, general manager of The Corner Ale & Cider House Pub on Sheet Street, said: “It’s very frustrating, we have only been open two and a half weeks.
“It’s another hurdle to overcome, and at such short notice – we were on the verge of placing our order for Christmas day. It’s a good job we haven’t done that yet. We would be stuck with a load of stock we can’t sell.
“The cost of stocking the pub each time we come out of lockdown is ridiculous,” Jake added. “We are known for our hand-pulled real ales, which don’t keep – about three or four barrels of it just go down the drain.”
Jake expects that everyone expect himself and the chef will need to be furloughed.
“It’s a nightmare, it’s one thing after another,” he said.
Nicholas Bayldon-Pritchard runs five pubs in Windsor, and all but one of them will have to close.
The Horse and Groom on Castle Hill, the Queen Victoria and Piper Art Bar in Peascod Street and the Watermans Arms in Eton will all be shut.
“It will have a catastrophic impact with no end in sight,” said Nicholas. “We have gone along with Government guidance through and through and we have lost so much money.”
The Fox and Castle in Old Windsor has a large kitchen and will remain open. From here, the pubs will be able to cook all the Christmas day meals customers will no longer be able to enjoy inside the pub.
Instead, these will be offered at a discounted price and delivered within a five-mile radius on the day.
Nicholas added that he, too, is not surprised by this change to Tier 3.
“In have been looking at the figures for Slough and it was only a matter of time,” he said.
“People from Tier 3 come into Tier 2 and spread the virus. Mental health plays a huge part of this. It’s ever so difficult when you’re stuck in and you can’t do this and that. This pandemic has hurt everyone at every level.”
Norden Farm Centre for the Arts will be closed to the public once again from Saturday (December 19) and it will be moving its shows, productions and classes online. Its production of Pinocchio will be live-streamed next week.
Theatres and performance centres too will be affected by the switch – Theatre Royal Windsor’s last performance of Cinderella until Tier 3 restrictions are lifted will take place tomorrow night (December 18).
How will the switch to Tier 3 affect you or your business? Have your say by emailing adrianw@baylismedia.co.uk
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